get to appoint a supreme court which will affect this country much more than the policies of either candidates for four years. darryl smith says my belief of what is best for the country and the future drove me to vote early. so vote. we want you to vote. "cnn newsroom" continues now with brooke baldwin. >> thank you so much. good to see all of you on a very exciting week this monday. i'm brooke baldwin. here we go. this is the real life political thriller gripping the nation, folks, we're now hours away from the final chapter. tomorrow is the day the majority of the nation heads to the voting booth. and take a look at this here, brand-new, cnn orc polling here shows really neither guy, look at this. 49%, 49%. talk about a page turner here. but for some voters, the voting has already begun. look at the lines. you see the sign. miami-dade county, these folks waiting hours to cast their absentee ballots there. you know the deal in florida. battleground state, one of the

battleground states getting a visit from mitt romney. as he and the president are maximizing each and every campaign hour. president obama is hitting wisconsin, iowa, and, of course, ohio, before heading to chicago. and very soon he will be rallying the crowds in columbus, getting a boost from some a-list celebrities. meantime, mitt romney, he is traveling up the eastern seaboard with stops in florida, ohio, virginia, and, of course, new hampshire. and during the next hour we will take you live to his event in fairfax, virginia. speaking of mitt romney, he's already making his case in lynchburg and jim acosta son the campaign trail with him. hey, jim. >> reporter: with a slew of new battleground state polls showing mitt romney trailing president obama only slightly on this day before election day, the gop nominee is making his closing argument to voters. at a campaign stop here in virginia, and earlier this morning in florida, romney warned the crowd that the

country could be in store for another recession and potentially another debt ceiling crisis if mr. obama gets another four years in office. romney is trying to make the case that he's the leader that can bring the country together. here's what he had to say? >> when i'm elected, the economy and the american jobs are likely to still be very stagnant. this year, by the way, this year, the economy is growing more slowly than last year and last year more slowly than the year before. i'm not going to waste my time complaining about my predecessor when i'm president. i'm not going to spend my time trying to pass partisan legislation that is unrelated to jobs. from day one i'm going to go to work to help americans get back to work. >> reporter: after stops here in virginia, romney heads to the ultimate battleground state of ohio and then ends the night in the state where his campaign all began, in new hampshire. then his campaign says tomorrow morning he will wake up and vote near his home in belmont,

massachusetts. jim acosta, cnn, traveling with the romney campaign in lynchburg, virginia. >> jim acosta, thank you. the president at this hour is traveling to ohio where brand-new cnn poll of polls, which we should point out, tracks a number of different polls, shows president obama with a lead. take a look here. the president is three points, slight advantage, in ohio. three points ahead of his challenger mitt romney. the poll average includes university of cincinnati survey which talked to some voters just yesterday. so let's go to columbus, let's go to white house correspondent brianna keilar who is live for us there. it looks like a pretty packed house this afternoon where the president will be speaking. and speaking of that ohio poll that we just showed, slight advantage? how is team obama feeling about those numbers? >> reporter: they're feeling good, brooke. this is a sliver of an advantage, i will tell you, but president obama is enjoying and has consistently for a while the sliver of an advantage here in ohio and in a number of key battleground states. ohio is really the most key

battleground state. you look at the picture nationally, and he's not quite performing as well. our latest cnn orc poll of polls nationally has mitt romney tied with president obama, 49-49. but aides to president obama, david axelrod and david gibbs expressing confidence this morning saying that they think he will carry not only the electoral college, but also the popular vote, and, yeah, it is already very noisy here in the nationwide arena as you can tell, brooke. there is actually some areas you can't see, i know, on camera, in the upper levels of the arena that are not full at this point. but president obama won't be speaking for another couple of hours. so we'll see if those fill up. there is some overflow area outside in case, and he's really trying to get enthusiasm going by bringing out some entertainment firepower. big show here today. the biggest show of all of his rallies, both jay-z and bruce springsteen will be performing, brooke. >> okay. so jay-z and the boss in columbus, helping rally for the president. i know you and i talked, when

was it last week, week before, talking about the president, he already cast his ballot in chicago. so what will the president be doing tomorrow on election day? >> reporter: it seems like he'll be shoot somethiing some hoops. this is an election day ritual for the president, started back in 2008. he would do a pick up basketball game when he was facing key primary races. and we understand from sources of the campaign that reggie love, the president's former personal aide, he rejoined the campaign in the final days, and he's in charge of putting this game together. sort of, i guess you could say a superstition that president obama has. a little bit of nostalgia going on the obama campaign as you have the old players coming back. we heard from david axelrod this morning, he said it is sort of like a long-running series when all the characters come back. we'll see if that nostalgia lasts. i would say it would be directly proportional to whether or not the president wins tomorrow. >> brianna keilar for us in

columbus. thank you. and voters, voters in the battleground states, they have been bombarded with more than 700,000 airings of campaign ads. that's between the months of april to october. tomorrow, you will have your final say, and so we, of course, being cnn, we have correspondents spanning the swing states, to beat them with what they're thinking. martin savage, let's begin with you in cleveland. >> reporter: i'm martin savage in cleveland, ohio. brooke, we're standing outside of the county board of elections where early voting is what these people are standing in line for. early voting in this state, as we pointed out, started back in october. here we are in the month of november, crowds not as big as they were over the weekend, but after all, it is a workday. it is a festive atmosphere. the police are trying to keep the traffic moving, but you can hear the music deejay set up right across the state. on top of that, there is also hot beverages being served down there to try to keep people

feeling pretty good and they are feeling fairly good. we haven't seen any problems or heard of any altercations. most of the voters will tell you, they have heard all the ads, been bothered by the robocalls and now ohio realizes it is time to vote. >> reporter: i'm john zarrella in miami-dade county. the issue, of course, the big issue in florida today is people having the opportunity to vote. early voting ended on saturday. some people waited in lines, three, four, five hours. the democratic party then filing a suit early sunday morning saying people had to have a meaningful opportunity to vote. in miami-dade, broward and palm beach counties, heavily democratic counties. mike dade county here and up in palm beach responded by allowing people to come yesterday and today to file absentee ballots. that's what this line is here that you see. people picking up absentee ballots, filling them out and then turning them in again.

the line is perhaps three or 400 deep, goes all the way around the corner behind me here. now, that is what the folks are doing here in miami-dade. they'll be allowed to do this until 5:00 this afternoon. anyone who is still in line at 5:00 when the office is officially shut will, of course, be allowed to vote. >> it is the final day of early voting here in iowa. this battleground state where both camps want the six electoral votes. you see the voters lined up behind me, casting their votes. what i can tell you is that they are seeing record early voting in iowa this year. they say 40% of people that vote will have voted early. that is key when it comes to the ground game. the obama camp, the romney camp neck and neck, knocking on as many doors as they can, making as many phone calls, trying to get every single supporter they can to the polls. when you look at the numbers, traditionally democrats leave republicans in getting the early vote out. what we're told that lead is more narrow this year than in

past years. as of the votes through friday, registered democrats here in iowa had a lead of 63,000 votes over registered republicans in terms of getting them in. at the same time, you have a race here that is neck and neck. the final des moines register poll came out here over the weekend, it has the president leading by five points. but it is still a very, very narrow race here, far too close to call. >> i'm kyung lah in denver. this is where the battles are pu -- ballots are pulled out of the envelopes. i'm walking down the actual path of a ballot and what is happening here now is that the counting has just begun. what you're seeing over here are the machines that count the ballots, they're sticking them in, they run through, and they count them. but, the ballots won't actually be tabulated until 7:00 p.m.

tomorrow night. that's when voting ends here in the state of colorado. the secretary of state's office says 1.7 million people have already voted. they estimate that will be about 2 million by tomorrow. 85% of all voting in colorado happens before election day. smooth so far, but they expect it may be smooth on election day. brooke? >> kyung lah, thank you so much. watch cnn all day long tomorrow, keep it on cnn for election day. our special coverage begins tomorrow night, 6:00 eastern. i will be anchoring a special newsroom at noon tomorrow with joe johns in washington. and as we are on the eve of election day, some areas, the voting trouble has already begun, like these lines, seven-hour wait times. now the lawyers are stepping in. ali velshi is all over it. [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news

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let's talk about florida. florida, again, looking at a close race, and possibly a very, very ugly legal battle. democrats lawyering up over governor rick scott's refusal to extend early voting hours. the aim of voting is to make it easier for people to cast their ballots, but look at this. >> let us vote! let us vote! let us vote! >> chanting let us vote, long lines, we're hearing some wait hours, maybe you've been in a

line like this here. seven hours. voters being turned away. this is what we're hearing. ali velshi is watching this for us. i spoke with him a little while ago. let me bring in ali velshi, our chief business correspondent here. first, talking about florida, so far early voting, 4 million people, but when you look at the lines, miami-dade, they're insane. >> we probably have half the state already having voted but lines have 400 people in them. and it is weird, you got to go there and get your provisional ballot and fill it out and get in another line to drop it off. it is discouraging some voters from voting. this is after, as you know, they changed the law. so you had 14 days of advance voting, now eight. that's a big problem. we're hearing of some people spending up to seven hours in lines. now, people have to stand in lines, some will go away, but, remember, president bush takes florida and as a result he takes the presidency. >> several hundred votes absolutely matter. >> florida is one of those couple of states where everybody there knows every vote counts.

>> ohio, we're talking earlier, the other squeaky wheel. ohio, early voting ended at 2:00. >> huge turnout for early voting in ohio. that's ended. there is a bit of a problem there as well. the secretary of state imposed this new form if you vote provisionally, without i.d. and can't fully prove who you are, you have to fill out a different form and the criticism and some lawsuits say the form is too complicated. i brought it up on the internet, taken a look at it. i have to agree. it seems more complicated than it needs to be to achieve to what it is trying to achieve. this may not matter in ohio. the provisional ballots don't get counted unless there isn't a winner until november 17th. but, ohio is a dead heat again. some polls show president obama ahead. generally speaking within the statistical margin of error. one poll shows him ahead outside of the margin of error. bottom line, it is tight. if you win ohio and florida, you probably win the presidency. if you win neither one of them, you have a tough road ahead of

you. if each wins one, they still got to play the rest of the board. these two are going to matter a great deal. >> we'll be watching very, very closely. ali velshi, thanks to you. >> my pleasure. we're watching the race for the white house very, very closely. i want to focus now here on the balance of power, specifically the high stakes in the u.s. senate. next, hour a shift in power in the senate could impact the next four years and we're highlighting three races you need to watch.

with tomorrow's vote we could see a shift in the balance of power in congress. you know the deal. republicans have the majority in the house of representatives right now. they would love to grab control of the senate. on the flip side, democrats control the senate and are looking to gain power in the house. does either side really have a chance to make any political gains? let's bring in senior congressional pont dana bash who has been covering all of the races here, all of the senators and members of congress.

talking specifically about the senate, how could the power shift? >> well, let's start with where things stand now. this is basically a virtual senate, and right now there are 47 republican seats, 51 democratic and two independent. let's look at what is at stake on tuesday. tomorrow. all of these white seats are going to be up for grabs. so it is 33 seats, it is a third of the senate, that happens every two years. but the reality is that most of these are not super competitive. so let's turn over those just for the sake of argument and just, again, keep focused on these white seats, brooke. these are the ones that are incredibly competitive and, you know what, there are a lot of them if you look at this. mostly democratic, but some republicans and so republicans have to defend their own, but also take a number of democratic seats. >> so among those races, tell me about three you've been watching closely. >> i want to start with the

state of virginia. this race is so razor thin it so close, you're talking about the democrat who is the former governor of virginia, tim kaine, against another former governor, george allen, a former senator. this at this point is the most expensive senate race, like $82 million. and it is still going up. i'm telling you living here, we see the ads over and over again. we're definitely watching this. this is a democratic seat that republicans really want to pick up. the other seat i want to talk about is another democratic seat that republicans desperately need and want. it is in the red state of montana. john tester is the incumbent democrat. he's just in his first term. and danny rehberg is challenging him. this is another race that has been pretty expensive, almost $45 million spent and there is no major media market in montana. that's a lot of money out there. guess how much that's moved the dial? it hasn't at all. went into this race 1% difference in the polls, right now, the day before election day, 1% difference in the polls. it is just too close to call. last one i want to talk about is

the marquis senate race of this election year, the one in massachusetts, the incumbent republican senator scott brown is fighting for his political life against his democratic challenger elizabeth warren who is incredibly well funded. going into tomorrow, i can tell you that republicans privately are very pessimistic about holding on to this seat. they really feel that elizabeth warren is going to win. some of the polls in the past 24 hours showed it tightening up, but this is democratic massachusetts, historically. so especially in a presidential year, when most people in massachusetts are going to be voting for the president, they think that elizabeth warren will likely have this in the bag. >> dana bash, we will keep watching those -- both the senate. we talked about the tight house races, we're looking at those in the days to come, in addition to the race for the white house. we're also looking at voting issues, voting issues in the state of florida. and my next guest is in florida, right now. his guy has a lot riding on this state. coming up next, here he is, l.a.

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joining me now live from miami, a big time democrat, antonio villaraigosa, mayor of los angeles. you may remember him chairing the dnc, democratic national convention. good to see you, mr. mayor. >> good to see you, brooke. >> mitt romney was in florida, first stop, this morning. let's play a little of what he had to say to floridians. >> he said he would focus on creating jobs, but he focused on obama care and that killed jobs. he was going to cut the deficit in half, instead he doubled t he said by now unemployment would be at 5.2%. and last friday we learned that it is 7.9%. now, that's -- that's 9 million jobs short. >> you heard the crowd. mitt romney listing reasons not to vote for the president's

re-election. sir, in 60 seconds, i have a lot i want to get to with you, 60 seconds, give me to reasons to vote for barack obama. >> well, first of all, let me say this was from a person who was 47th out of 50th in job creation, a person who when he worked at bain laid people off, shipped jobs overseas, i think the biggest reason to vote for president obama is what we have what now 31 straight months of growth, the other reason is that 32 million people have health care, and that 12 million jobs will be created by according to moody's analytics in the next four years if we keep charting the course ahead that was 40 seconds. >> 40 seconds. nice job, mayor villaraigosa, good job. since you're in florida, the mayor of los angeles, not your home state of california, but still, you're there. i want to talk to you about the lines. these lines of early voters we're seeing today, looks like winding around street corners, you have people in southern

florida, casting ballots, waiting for hours to do so, some from what i've heard, some are just walking away, giving up. question to you is how confident are you by the time the polls close tomorrow that everyone who wants to vote can? >> well, as you know, the governor, governor scott and the legislature reduced early voting by six days. they even fought in court the opportunity to extend voting hours at a polling place where there had been a bomb threat. our hope is that people will go out and vote. i can tell you there are 125 offices. we have been working two years here in florida. >> what is your confidence level? are you confident that everyone who wants to vote will be voting? >> i'm confident that we'll make every effort to get them out to vote. you talked about the enthusiasm gap. i haven't seen it. i didn't see it in tampa. i haven't seen it in miami. >> not by the looks of the lines. >> that's exactly right. people want to vote. they want to exercise their right to vote.

>> the -- as you point out, democratic party of florida, they have filed suit in three, three heavily democratic counties in south florida to try to extend some of the voting hours. do you expect a judge to act on that before tomorrow? and if not, sir, should we see this as your side possibly preemptively laying the ground work for a challenge post election day? >> well, i hope that a judge will act quickly to extend the hours, but i can tell you we're work hard, we're not going to wait on that. that's why we have some few thousand people just in miami-dade alone working, knocking on doors, getting that vote out. >> you are, as we point out, the mayor of los angeles. you are a bit of a mover and shaker in the democratic party. exactly why are you in florida on the day before the election? >> well, i was asked to come to tampa and miami. i've been, frankly, in iowa, colorado, i've been virtually

every battleground state. i have because this election matters. it matters to people in los angeles who is in the white house, who is in the house and the senate. i'm going to work as hard as i can until the polls close and then i'm going to chicago and celebrate president obama's re-election. >> this is a pretty big day here, mayor villaraigosvillarai day before the election, florida specifically. did you want to go to florida? >> i wanted to go to florida. i wanted to go wherever they sent me, but florida is without question a battleground state. it is going to be very, very close. about 150,000 more democrats have early voted than republicans. but this is going to go all the way to the wire, i've been saying that for a year. the nation is evenly divided. i do expect that the president will win here, but especially will hold the line in ohio and iowa and wisconsin, we'll win in

nevada and i look for victories in other states as well. >> thank you, we appreciate it. we'll be watching here all day tomorrow. and from -- >> i know you will. >> we will. from provisional ballots to one of the most famous swing counties in the u.s., we're talking battleground ohio. don lemon is there. he'll join me live from cincinnati with a sign that the political landscape there is changing yet again. but first, on the eve of election day, take a look at this, seems investors claimed the waiting game. the dow pretty flat at this hour. hour and a half away from the closing bell. you're watching "cnn newsroom." tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when i'm trading, i'm so into it, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 hours can go by before i realize tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that i haven't even looked away from my screen. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that kind of focus... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that's what i have when i trade. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550

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a new cnn poll of polls has just come out. and president obama, he has a slight advantage in ohio over his challenger mitt romney by 3

percentage points. it is a small lead in the state that may have the biggest impact in this presidential election. ohio is embroiled also in controversy now over this piece of paper. this is a provisional ballot, that is the ballot voters have to fill out if they don't, they can't provide any kind of identification. a court hearing is under way now about who gets to fill out part of this ballot. i want to go to cnn's don lemon who has been anchoring all weekend long out of ohio. we'll get to the provisional ballot bit in a moment. you're out there, you're with a long line of voters. we see this cnn poll of polls showing obama is ahead barely. what is the sense you're getting from folks there in ohio? >> reporter: stick with me. i have a lot of paper here wasn't to get throui want to get through, i just came from upstairs. these are the latest numbers, official numbers, you can see, they highlighted them for me. so as of yesterday, this is the latest numbers, remember, a lot

of people still haven't voted today and their still gathering information. so as of yesterday, they're saying that 23,051 people have voted here, have voted early here. and that includes everything, the absentee ballots returned, everything. now, here's -- to give you an idea, in 2008, by yesterday, 24,960 people had voted. so any say they're about 2,000 behind the 2008 numbers so they don't believe they're going to make that up. okay. here's the other information that i got. this involves those ballots, absentee ballots returned. so they said they sent out 119,830 absentee ballots. so far they received 103,377 back. that's 86% of the absentee ballots that were sent out. again that does not include yesterday. and to give you an idea, today they're open from 8:00 to 2:00. but the people who are waiting in line, i'll show you in a second, they'll get to vote if

they're in line. the people who are already in line. yesterday they were open from 1:00 to 5:00. they didn't finish until 8:30 and they said yesterday they had almost 1300 people, 1297 people who voted early yesterday. okay, brooke. >> okay. show me the people. >> reporter: you see it, right? look at that. and it goes all the way around the corner on the other side of the building. we don't even have enough cable to show you. how long have you guys been in line? how long have you waited? >> three hours. >> about three hours. >> how long did you wait? >> three hours. >> three and a half. >> three and a half hours. people have been waiting in this line for three and a half hours, brooke. three and a half hours. if you have a question, want to talk about the provisional -- >> there is this court hearing happening right now, provisional ballot is the ballot you, let's say if you can't provide, you know, identification this is something that is counted once the polls close, and in a state like ohio, every provisional

ballot matters, what is the deal today? >> reporter: okay, so here is the deal. they're in court now as you said. i spoke to the secretary of state, i'll get to that in a second. the secretary of state here, john husted, a republican, sent out, to level the playing field, he says, he sent out applications for absentee ballots to every single registered voter in the state. almost 8,000. 7.7 million people, almost 8 million people. this is what you get. and once you say yes, i do want to vote earlier on absentee, you send this back in the mail. okay. so you send it. then they send you the actual absentee ballot. for people who don't return this, as i said, they have gotten 86% of it back, but the number, 15% or so who haven't returned, 14%, if they come in and they try to vote in person, earlier on election day, they're going to have to do a provisional ballot. and so on friday, the secretary

of state, brooke, issued this directive saying instead of the election worker entering the social security number or the information about your i.d., you have to do it. it is the voter's responsibility to do it. so voting rights advocates are saying, you know what, that's a real issue here because you are changing the law. i spoke with him, listen to what he said and we'll talk on the other side, brooke. >> actually, this is the way it's been for several elections in the state of ohio, to change -- to do the form differently and to administer it differently would be the change. what we're doing is consistent with the way elections have been run. and understand, this is like casting a vote. we wouldn't want the poll worker to cast a vote for someone else. we want the poll worker -- we want the voter to do this so it is right and their vote will be counted. >> does this have the possibility, though, of having provisional ballots, hundreds of thousands of them tossed out as this group who -- >> no, what we're talking about here are a handful of ballots in

the big scheme of things in terms of how this is done. >> well, people have been telling me they don't believe this will be a handful of ballots because so far, i think there are about 200,000 or so, brooke, still out and that's going to put all of them in jeopardy, people haven't marked them correctly or they don't mark them properly. once they do come in to vote. as you can see, all these people here, there are bound to be some people who alied for absentee ballots, didn't send them back and now they have to come in and face this and make sure they get all of their information correct on this. that's really going to be the issue here in ohio. these provisional ballots, among other things. you know, the attorneys, everybody, they're going crazy about this. we'll be here and monitoring it for you. >> that is a potential, a potential headache you'll be covering, don lemon, for us in ohio, over the next 24 to 48 hours. thank you for that. we'll come back to you. want you to forget about the presidential race for a quick minute. we have to talk about same sex marriage. perhaps talk about marijuana.

the push is on to legalize both controversial issues in several different states? john avalon and margaret hoover will be weighing in next. president obama: there's just no quit in america... and you're seeing that right now. over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... rising. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the... last thing we should do is turn back now. here's my plan for the next four years:

making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting american-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where... we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. and ending the war in afghanistan, so we can... do some nation-building here at home. that's the right path. so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote... so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message.

tomorrow, a handful of states could change the discussion of the country on two very controversial issues. same sex marriage and legalizing marijuana. we're about to talk about both here. first, pot. look at the map. washington state, oregon, colorado, you will be voting on

legalizing marijuana. i'm not talking marijuana for e medicinal use here. they'll decide if they want to legalize it for recreational use. let me bring in my favorite married political power couple, our cnn contributors john avalon and margaret hoover. john, i read your column in the daily beast today, you run through several key interesting, colorful ballot initiatives if you will. you call colorado to quote you, ground zero, for the most ambitious marijuana legalization issue in the country. le it tell me about amendment 64. >> it would try to legalize marijuana like liquor. it is approaching it in a sober minded way, saying not only will this help state tax revenue s bt it will help with new school construction. it is a different pitch than we have seen in the past.

both in colorado and washington, the polls show it has a real chance of passing. the additional x factor here is colorado is such a crucial swing state. how amendment 64 pot legalization could impact presidential turnout is one of the fascinating x factors this of this election. >> this is two opposing views. coming out of denver. roll it. >> take marijuana off the streets, where it is universally available, and place it behind a counter, where we can start to realize the tax benefits, where we can limit access to the people who are -- only the people permitted to buy it. >> in our constitution, our state constitution, really, right next to the right to vote and freedom of religion, we have the right to get high? >> so, margaret hoover, you have all these folks coming in with -- we're using colorado as an example. voting on legalizing or not marijuana in this swing state. who does this help most in the grand scheme of things? romney or obama? >> the overriding thought is would help president obama.

however, the democratic governor of the state of colorado has even said that he's not in favor of it, has failed to endorse. the truth is, this policy would put the state of colorado, my home state to the left of the country, the netherlands, when it comes to marijuana policy. this isn't decriminalizing. this is making use legal for personal purposes and then regulating a private sector market for marijuana. so this is an extremely progressive law and, you know, the jury is out. we'll see what happened. while it is polling a few points ahead, generally -- they're going to have to be leading by six or seven points by election day to get them over the edge when it comes tomorrow. we'll see how they do. >> we'll move from marijuana, want to get to same sex marriage. look at the map. four states have same sex marriage on the ballot tomorrow. washington, maryland, minnesota, maine. with maine possibly representing the biggest turn around here on how same sex marriage is viewed three years ago, all three years

ago, maine voters rejected their governor's decision to allow same sex marriage. recent polling suggests a shift in maine. listen to this, and then i have a question. >> the end result in november will be the same. another campaign, unfortunately. we are disappointed as divisive and as contentious as it was in 2009, this say tough time to be going through this again. >> many people changed their minds and many continue to change their minds and they want another chance to bring fairness and equality to the state of maine. we are going to give them that chance. >> john what do you make of this? could this be a tipping point in support of gay marriage in country? >> i mean, you know, america's at a tipping point. we're a thin majority of americans for first time support marriage equality. president obama out in favor of marriage equality. but marriage ultraequality meas

have been rejected. the real question is about putting civil rights measures to a popular vote, but this would be really historic if maine were to move in this direction after just three years ago. but margaret worked on this issue enormously, more than i have. >> let's give outflooyou the fl. final word? >> what we have seen in the gay rights movement is a progression in terms of not just popular opinion changing across the country, but also first this happened in the courts. then it happened in state legislatures. marriage is legal in six states. seven including the district of columbia. now if we see it happen at the ballot box, i think you'll see it in a huge turning point, four states. i think passing one of them will be a watershed movement for the lgbt community and republicans, little known story, have also been part of the winning coalitions in these four states. >> margaret hoover, john avalon, guys, thank you.

the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well.

all 435 members of the house of representatives will face voters tomorrow. but, control of the chamber ultimately rests on roughly

52-60 competitive races. john ba john boehner feels confident about tomorrow's outcome. >> i feel confident about winning the numbers we have. winning 65 seats from the democrats in the 201 cycle and all the experts talking about how many seats we're going to lose, 5, 10, 15, i never bought into the idea we had to lose any seats. as i have been in all these districts, over the last 45 days, our candidates our members are doing well. i'm pretty optimistic about maintaining the numbers that we have. >> so how would a shift in power in the u.s. senate impact the next four years? cnn's tom foreman takes us to the virtual senate. tom? >> brooke, all eyes are going to be on the u.s. senate to see how the balance of power works out because that will really determine what gets done in washington over the next four years. let me take the camera up high here in our virtual u.s. senate and tell you 47 seats in red held by the republicans. you see that little strip of blue in the back there, that's the democratic advantage.

the democrats are controlling 53 seats here, if you include the independents who caucus with them. they have the white house with president obama and the republicans, of course, run the house of representatives where they have a majority over there. so what would we see if none that changed and president obama was re-elected. we would see a new agenda. president obama wants to raise taxes on the wealthy. he's talked a lot about it. says it is part of making the economy more fundamentally fair. and getting the economy moving again. he also wants to tackle immigration reform again. this is one of those things he took a lot of heat on not getting done during his first term. says if he's re-elected he'll try again. and here is a wild card. there might be a supreme court seat he has to deal with. justice ginsburg suggested she might want to retire. if she goes away, that's a liberal leaning justice. he would probably put a liberal in her seat and that would maintain the status quo on the

court. let's imagine that nothing changes here and he doesn't get re-elected, but instead mitt romney wins the white house. what would he want to do in the u.s. senate? first thing, lower taxes on everyone. lower tax rates. 20% lower across the board, plus he says he wants to close loopholes. that's his idea of how to stimulate the economy, get things moving and deal with the deficit. he also says he would like to get rid of obama care, talked about this a lot during the campaign. he says he would keep the most popular parts but the rest of it he would like to chuck out the window. he might have the supreme court seat to fill, big difference, though, if it is a liberal justice leaving, he would put a conservative in her place and that would change the balance of the court and you would probably see it in the rulings coming out of the court over time. here is the thing. no matter what these men want to do, the simple truth is they can only do it if they have some cooperation in this chamber. what might happen? the democrats might hold on to their advantage or the republicans might win those

three seats back there. if they did that, you have a tie and the vice president either joe biden or paul ryan would have to decide the tie, whenever you had a 50/50 vote or the republicans might be able to pick up a couple of extra seats in the back and they would have an advantage of some sort. but almost without exception, there is very little indication that either party has even a hope of winning a 60-vote filibuster proof majority here. and that really matters, brooke, because without that, the only way either party can get something done is by finding a way finally to work across this aisle. brooke? >> working across the aisle. tom foreman, thank you so much. make sure you watch cnn on election day, huge, huge coverage, special coverage begins tomorrow night at 6:00 eastern. we will see you then. just in here to us at cnn, we're getting word of the last minute change in mitt romney's schedule. and i'm not talking about today, folks. i'm talking about tomorrow, election day. really gives us insight on the

campaign's thinking. that's next. ♪ ♪

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welcome back to cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. huge week into the newsroom. word that mitt romney will be stumping tomorrow, will be stumping, no rest from the trail and everyone is wondering if the president will match his challenger's move. straight to jim acosta, following the republican's campaign. looks like you're on the bus. we thought mitt romney was supposed to be in massachusetts tomorrow. and now game plan change, where will he be? >> reporter: well, brooke, let me tell you, he's still going to be in massachusetts tomorrow morning. the campaign has confirmed he and his wife will be voting near their home in belmont, massachusetts, around 8:30. then after that, they get back on the plane, back on the campaign plane and head to two more stops on election day.

>> and it froze. and will go away. mitt romney is going to be in both pennsylvania, guys remind me, pennsylvania and ohio tomorrow in addition to as jim acosta mentioned, voting in his home state of massachusetts. we'll try to get back to jim here. okay, jim acosta, we have you on the phone now? >> yeah. i'm on the phone. >> where did we leave off? >> let me turn this volume down in my ear because i'll be hearing myself twice here, brooke. but, yes, you were just summing it up here, pittsburgh and cleveland. >> cleveland. >> obviously, ohio is the ultimate battleground state. pennsylvania is a state they're starting to see moving in their direction. he made a stop there last night in the suburbs of philadelphia. they played the music from rocky as he was coming out on stage. he's the underdog in the state but they're seeing it as moving in their direction. i talked to a senior romney adviser about the stops tomorrow. he said they will not be big rallies, won't be rallies at all.

what will happen as we see mitt romney on the campaign trail in both the states thanking what they call get out the vote volunteers. he is going to be helping and thanking those volunteers. essentially really just getting his face on tv and local tv markets and both of those states tomorrow. and they say they just want to keep the energy going. that's why they're doing this. they don't want to waste a minute and in the words of one campaign official i talked to over the weekend, they still have money to spend. that is part of the rational as to why he's making these stops. and at this point they have got nothing left to lose. we should point out, though, brooke, john mccain tried this back in 2008. he, after voting in arizona, went to two stops in colorado and that didn't work out for him. this race is much tighter. they're going to go for it. >> jim acosta, we'll look for him tomorrow, not just in massachusetts, but also ohio and pennsylvania. let me go straight to washington now, to our nation's capital. john king, we have you here, of

course, our cnn chief national correspondent, and, john, i want to talk electoral vote versus popular in a moment. you're the magic wall man. i have my own magic wall. let me run through the possible scenario for our viewers, we're at our electoral map, which you can find, just go to cnn.com. we have mitt romney campaigning today in florida, in virginia, in new hampshire, and in ohio. so just roll with me because just for argument sake, let's make ohio go blue for obama. let's say if that happens. if that turns out to be the case, does mitt romney made his best path to victory, i'll turn florida red four mitt romney, virginia red for romney, let's say pennsylvania goes republican and let's say the four electoral votes in new hampshire, he'll be beginning his night, that's all romney territory. if john king, if he wins those states, plus the states that are, you know, reliably red here on our electrical map, that would put him, my magic number

is 272, he needs 270 to win, could that scenario -- could this play out? could that be his best path to the presidency? >> could have, would have, should have. isn't the monday before the election the best time where we play our dream maps, brooke? >> let's do it. >> could it play out that way? yes. as jim noted, i remember when george w. bush twice said i'm going to get pennsylvania. for bill clinton it was north carolina. he said i'm going to get north carolina. every candidate has a dream state. for mitt romney, it is pennsylvania. it makes some sense. in part because as jim noted, they still have money to spend. pennsylvania has not been swaum pd with all the ads. when you come in late and start airing the ads, you might move people. i make this point, he's going to pittsburgh tomorrow. when you're on tv local news in pittsburgh, you're getting coverage in eastern ohio which is an important state. if mitt romney wins the state of pennsylvania, i would bet my career that he will be the next president of the united states. it is a blue state. if he suddenly turns the state

with such deep blue dna red in presidential politics, he's winning a lot of other states too. you're not winning pennsylvania and losing other states. if he can swing that one, he's going to win. let's see if he can swing that one. that's a big challenge. >> you're betting your career here on pennsylvania. is there any other state that might possibly defy expectations as we look at this electoral map here? >> look, just watch what the campaigns have done in the final days and you know where they're a little bit nervous. the democrat sent bill clinton into minnesota. is minnesota going to topple over into the red? probably not. if minnesota turns red tomorrow night, we have got a romney blowout. there is no reason to believe -- my assumption heading into tomorrow, a close race either way. the odds are, i think if you're a betting person, the odds are slightly in the president's favor to win a narrow re-election, but not out of the realm. all governor romney wins a narrow victory either. you could have him win the popular vote and the president

win re-election in the electoral college. it is that close of an election. if states like minnesota are voting red, if a state like pennsylvania is suddenly voting red, we have got a late mini wave and a romney blowout. i don't see that happening. >> let me jump on this point you made in doing so, we have this very, very tight poll. it is the 49% for the president. 49% for mitt romney. here you go. so talk about a dead heat this is what you have. we're hearing a lot of talk with, say, let's say mitt romney wins the popular vote, but president obama is re-elected simply on the electoral votes here. the president's senior adviser davidaxelrod, he said this. >> they're saying it is possible the president wins the electoral vote, but not the popular vote. how much do you think that's a possibility? >> we're going to win the electoral vote and win the popular vote. it is a close election as we have always said, but i think this is -- this is the season

for weird theories. >> no huge surprise. senior obama campaign adviser saying of course the president is going to win the electoral and the popular votes. what are the chances we could see, this is one of those maybe weird bizarre scenarios as axelrod put it. >> can we get al gore on the phone? >> yikes. do we have to go there? >> i go there because it can happen. it happened four times. four times in the history of the republic, but it did happen 12 years ago. david axelrod is right. it is most likely, almost certain that the winner of the electoral college will also win the popular vote. it might be very close, it might be very nero, but that tends to be how it goes. i think it is more of a possibility this time because of how close it is. and for those who say, come on, go away, i would just give you 2000. it can happen. al gore won the popular vote by half a million votes nationwide. and george w. bush was sworn in as president. if that happens, either way, one candidate was the popular vote, other one wins the electoral college, they win. the one who wins the electoral college becomes the next

president of the united states. there will be a lot of himming and hwaing and legal challenges but the person who wins the electoral college becomes the next president of the united states. question is how does it affect the governing environment. let's get through tomorrow before we worry about that. >> exactly. let's going to 270 for one of these gentlemen and we'll go there later. john king, we appreciate it. thank you very much. gloria borger, wasn't to bri -- i want to bring you in here now. we're looking at this possibility that after election day, possibly, absolutely nothing changes, president obama wins re-election, the democrats keep control of the u.s. senate, republicans keep control of the house. status quo? what are the chances of that? >> i think there is a very good chance of that. if president obama were to be re-elected and you talk to all the people on the campaign committees, and they will tell you that there is a very good chance of that. you know, james madison's revenge. we elect different branches of government, and, you know, so here we are, in the middle of a

very nasty, very angry campaign, with a very, very divided country and we could end up in the same spot. i've been talking to a lot of people asking about that and where would that get us in the next step? and some people are saying, look, we spent about, what, $6 billion total in all of these -- >> can you believe that number? >> yeah. i mean, it is hard to believe, but, yes, and so we have spent $6 billion, the president and mitt romney's favorability is about the same. the enthusiasm of democrats and republicans now is about the same. and we could wind up with a government that is in the same situation and the question is, when these people return, if the president's re-elected, are they going to be any more willing to deal with each other than they were -- >> than they were four years ago. let's see what the candidates are saying.

let's roll this. >> the president promised change, but he couldn't deliver change. i not only promised change, i have a record of achieving it. >> he's trying to convince you that these bad old ideas are change. listen, we know what change looks like. what he's saying -- >> closing argument time, gloria borger what is the final pitch from both the guys? >> here what he is interesting to me. normally at the end of a campaign you have the uplifting final pitches. and we're seeing that in the political advertising certainly from both of the candidates. what we are also seeing is that this is such a close race that the closing arguments are more negative because what they're trying to do is make sure that their base voters turn out to vote. and the way to do that is not by being uplifting, the way to do that is to say this other guy is going to really get you in trouble if he's elected.

so it is a very different kind of closing argument, i think, that we're hearing this time around. and honestly, it sort of fits the entire campaign, which has been disappointing. >> gloria borger, hope you get a good night's sleep tonight. we'll watch you into the wee hours tomorrow night. >> should be interesting. >> thanks, gloria. we'll be watching. cnn election day, our special coverage, i should point out, begins tomorrow night, 6:00 eastern. and goes and goes and goes. we'll be watching. a huge, huge hour of live events. let me tee this up for you. we continue our special coverage here in the final hours of campaigning. both mitt romney and president obama expected to speak live very soon. that, of course, includes their surrogates, everyone from bill clinton to paul ryan to jay-z. yes. jay-z. and we're about to go on a swing state blitz. look at this, correspondents everywhere, for what is happening on the ground here. this day before the election day. stay right there. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about low-cost investing.

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just in, brand-new polls, cnn poll of polls shows president obama with one point, one-point lead nationally here. this really shows how absolutely close this race is. last night's cnn poll of polls, dead heat, 49 and 49. poll of polls, multiple polls here, all averaged together, polls of likely viewers tracking eight national surveys there. voters in the battleground states have been absolutely bombarded with 700,000 airings of campaign ads and that's from april until this past month of october. tomorrow, the people will finally have their say. we have correspondents, check them out, all throughout the country, spanning the swing states. to get a beat on what they're thinking, voters, i begin with

miguel marquez in las vegas. >> reporter: here in nevada, all eyes on the few votes remaining. record numbers turned out across the state. democrats asked for the most ballots. 47 force be 47% for democrats, 37% for republicans. both parties are getting out there to get vote out. the republicans have a lot of energy from mitt romney. but the democrats seem to have a lot more organization for president obama and it appears to be paying off in the polls. in a couple of the latest polls, usa today has president up by seven points in nevada, broadened his lead quite a bit. in las vegas, review journal, which endorsed governor romney, has the president up by four points in this state. it is all down now to what happens on election day. and both campaigns now fighting for every last vote. >> i'm ted rowlands in milwaukee, wisconsin, where republicans on the ground in

this state know they have the work cut out for them. polling shows the president is up in this state, significantly as much as 8% in one poll. republicans say they can make that ground up and the reason is they have a re strong ground game here in wisconsin as a result of the gubernatorial recall election of governor scott walker earlier this year. they say they're in place to make a difference in terms of getting out the vote. they're confident they can do it tomorrow. democrats are not taking any chances here. they are rewarding any volunteer this comes to help canvas and get out the vote from neighboring illinois, where they ticket to the obama party on tuesday night in chicago. the president spoke here today, paul ryan will finish his day after a long day of campaigning here in his home state. and at an event in milwaukee. >> i'm kyung lah in denver. it is the day before election day, when you're seeing here is the ballot prep. these are the early votes. and this is where the ballots are pulled out of the envelopes. early voting has been going on

here in colorado for two weeks. i'm walking down the actual path of a ballot and what is happening here now is that the counting has just begun. what you're seeing over here are the machines that count the ballots, they're sticking them in, they run through, and they count them. but, the ballots won't actually be tabulated until 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. that's when voting ends here in the state of colorado. the secretary of state's office says 1.7 million people have already voted. they estimate that will be about 2 million by tomorrow. 85% of all voting in colorado happens before election day. smooth so far. they expect it may be smooth on election day. brooke? >> kyung lah, thank you so much to you and all the correspondents across the country. john mccain, he says he's never seen veterans so angry as they are over the administration's handling of the attack in benghazi. and the senator says their anger could affect the election.

two guys standing by with a little something to say about that, squaring off next.

we are now hours before polls open, and people start voting. so what are the last minute talking points? let me bring in cnn political analyst rowland martin live for me in washington and ron hansalan in new york. i want to play a little sound. we're going to hear from house speaker john boehner sitting in ohio over the weekend, talked exclusively, and we asked him about the auto bailout and what it means in his, the mother of all swing states here, when it comes to picking a president. here he was. >> the auto bailout may help the

president a little. but when you look at polling, it wouldn't indicate that has much of a factor at all. a lot of people who oppose the auto bailout on the other side. >> okay. i want you to begin, roland. speaker boehner says auto bailout may help the president a little, but the polls are so close, what hasn't the president really proven to folks in ohio, you think? >> nice try there, speaker boehner. he knows dog gone well the auto bailout has been a huge issue in ohio. and frankly that is the critical reason where you have such separation between president obama and mitt romney. it would be even tighter. also, if mitt romney did nothing, his position on the auto bailout wasn't so critical, you would not have seen him double down on the jeep ad and he made a fool out of himself because so many papers across ohio was blasting him for those frankly wrong insinuations about moving jobs over to china. and so sorry, speaker boehner,

nice try. but you know the bailout matters. >> you say nice try. ray, what do you say? >> i think he had the right take on it. i think the auto bailout mattered for workers in the uaw and that's a big constituency in ohio. >> paul ryan supported it. >> well, you know, it is actually very complicated. when you look at the politics of the auto bailout, the things that folks on the right and the left disagreed about were really about the way the bailout was carried out. yet we have mainly fixated on other issues. so, you know, basically romney's argument has been that he favored managed bankruptcy as well. it is a very nuanced discussion and the democrats played well off the idea that mitt romney opposed doing anything, he favored a complete lazy fair soluti solution which is not true. i think ultimately voters in ohio, like voters across the country, care about a broader spectrum of issues and like any other state --

>> hang on, let's throw the nuance out the window. we speak the same language, jobs. you look at the sheer numbers in ohio specifically, 7% unemployment rate in september. and 8.6 in january of '09. it has improved. so rei hadhan what about mitt ry would pave a better path. >> if you look at iowa and ohio, there are a lot of midwestern states that are export oriented that fared relatively well that happen to be swing states. that's going to be a challenge for a challenger in this kind of a cycle. so i think that what, you know, my own view is that the reset that romney engaged in september, they should have engaged in it earlier on. had they done a better job in the summer months of framing a more middle class friendly message and reframing the romney campaign around reaching out to

hard pressed blue collar workers in states like ohio and iowa, i think he would have been in a much stronger position at this point. but i still think he's in a position to do quite well. and to surprise a lot of folks who are dismissing his chances. i think the republicans have good reason to be excited. >> john mccain, you were on starting point, you were listening to this. this is john mccain speaking to soledad o'brien. >> i think greater impact is the fact of benghazi on our veterans. i've been traveling all over the country, and veterans are angry. they're angry, they're upset. they don't trust barack obama. there is 1.6 million of them in florida, for example. i think they could have an impact on this election. i know it is all about jobs and the economy, but i have never seen veterans as upset and angry as they are over benghazi. >> never before, roland martin. what is your take on that? are you talking to veterans? >> two words, oh, please.

senator john mccain has been trying to spin this whole deal about trying to say, oh, benghazi is what has veterans all upset. i'll tell you what has veterans more upset, when the united states senate, including senator john mccain, voted down that jobs bill that directly impacted veterans. i've had veterans groups on my tv one sunday show and, trust me this is an issue they have been talking about. also, i've heard veterans talk about the fact that they love the fact of the iraq war is over, and the president also wants to pull us out of afghanistan by 2014. and so, look, senator mccain wants to focus to stay on this, he clearly wants to help mitt romney as much as he can, but, trust me, vets are talking about veteran unemployment, veterans getting jobs, when they come back to this country, not just what took place in libya. i'm sorry, he's wrong. >> i'll tell you, i have a very dear friend who went to the naval academy and he's frustrating in talk to his own buddies that noy s thaies that

have any military experience. >> i think there are a lot of folks with questions about benghazi, but i agree this election is going to be about core economic issues and that while benghazi has really been problematic, and we'll continue to see a drip, drip, drip for months to come, i don't think it will be the issue that decides this election. >> gentlemen, thanks to you. >> thanks a lot. the mormon church has strict rules when it comes to homosexuality. so how would mitt romney presidency handle this particular issue? gary tuchman investigates next.

should mitt romney win the presidency, it will mark a first a mormon couple moving into the white house. and one issue he is likely to encounter, his stance on homosexuality versus the views of the mormon church. cnn's gary tuchman traveled to salt lake city and asked a group of members and former members what it is like to be mormon and gay. >> thank you. >> reporter: mitt romney finds himself in a potentially tricky spot, regarding his views on same sex relationships in his mormon faith. he's against same sex marriage, but listen to what he says about

the rights of same sex couples. >> if two people the same gender want to live together, want to have a loving relationship and want to adopt a child in my state, individuals of the same sex were able it adopt children. in my view, that's something which people have the right to do. >> reporter: romney's statement is notable because the typical gay-loving relationship goes against the beliefs of his religion. michael anderson is the managing director of public affairs for the church. >> for those who feel accountable to god, the only acceptable sexual relationships are between a man and a woman who are legally married. and so that's our position as a church. >> reporter: the church of jesus christ of latter day saints is based here in salt lake city. but nearly 15 million members across the globe. it is not known how many of those members are homosexual. but in order for them to stay in the mormon church in good standing, they must be celibate or they might not tell the truth about being celibate.

these five people are gay mormons and gay former mormons. kim mack is a mother of three, formerly married to a man. >> i'm an excommunicated mormon. >> reporter: why were you excommunicated? >> i had acted on my gay feelings. >> reporter: kim's partner is kelly hill. she has kept quiet about her gay relationship so she hasn't been excommunicated, yet. your bishop doesn't know yet but he could find out anytime especially because you'll be on tv now and you could be excommunicated at any time. >> i'm sure will be. >> reporter: that must be very traumatizing but how do you feel about the possibility of being excommunicated at any time? >> terrified. >> reporter: kendall wilcox doesn't want to risk excommunication. he's decided to be celibate. >> i'm not holding hands, no forms of any physical intimacy and also controlling of my thoughts even. i can't sort of entertain thoughts of romantic or erottic

connection. >> reporter: mark packer also loves his faith but feels much differently. >> i'm not going to be celibate. i have no interest in being celibate. so by my own principles i really can't go back to the church. >> reporter: how many of you have been despondent over the years because you've been considered an outsider by your own church? >> i went through a lot of suicide attempts, if you will, throughout my younger years, as a result of feeling that shame. >> reporter: there is no move ahead to make it easier for people who are gay and are in a gay relationship to stay in the church? >> there is no softening of that doctrine position, no change in our doctrinal position. there is certainly a lot of effort to help people understand the need to be warm and embracing and inclusive of all people, no matter what issues they're dealing with. >> reporter: jason conner says he didn't see that effort. >> we're taught that, you know, family is everything on this earth and you -- you are in your family so you can one day be in

heaven with your family. and so it is very painful to stay in the church and be told that's for everyone, that's for everyone but you. >> reporter: conner, who lives with l with his male partner, is also out of the church. he's a leader of a group called soul force who met with leaders in salt lake city to ask for changes. one was for the church to denounce this group, ever green, a mormon organization that states it helps people overcome homosexual behavior and in some cases by arranging so-called homosexual cure therapies, which are roundly criticized by most psychologists. >> the church has a relationship with that is harmful and damaging. >> reporter: the church tells us ever green is not an official entity of the lds church. but ever green has worked in close cooperation with the church throughout the years. so we wanted to find out more about ever green. i was in touch with ever green's executive director for about two weeks via e-mail. at first david said he wasn't interested in being interviewed. then in the next e-mail, he warmed up to the possibility.

then i received a third mail, once again, saying he did not want to be interviewed. he came out of his office, wanted to give it one last chance. when i came in, i saw his office manager, she talked to him and he told her he didn't want to see me. the lds church says it does not specifically recommend which counseling techniques are appropriate for homosexuals. but in a written statement, told us, for those who seek to diminish or control unwanted attractions to the same sex, counseling has sometimes been helpful. this mormon man says he used to only be attracted to men. he underwent counseling after receiving advice from church leaders. and is now married to this woman, and has a 1-year-old son. >> do i feel the same kind of sexual attraction or -- to women generally, that i have felt toward men generally in the past? no, i don't. but i do feel that toward my wife, which has been what is most important. >> reporter: so if mitt romney was okay with gay relationships, particularly gay mormon relationships, how would that

affect his relations with his church? we aren't being told specifically. >> the church is politically neutral and we tried very hard to keep out of the political campaign. so we don't discuss the candidates and we don't discuss the campaign. >> reporter: more generally, the church does tell us in writing, members are entitled to their private opinions. but members also understand obligations of membership do not include publicly campaigning for beliefs and practices contrary to church teachings. and in the mormon faith, anything other than a monogamous sexual relationship between a married man and woman is contrary to church teachings. gary tuchman, cnn, salt lake city, utah. >> gary tuchman, thank you. up next, why republican haley barbour, one of romney's biggest supporters, says romney may have lost momentum. i'll speak live with a republican congresswoman about what republican insiders are saying about that very comment.

we'rwith questions fromtump sombing elections.kies do you know where your polling place is? maybe somewhere around my house. mine's just, right over that way. well you can find out exactly where it is using bing elections. it's a good day for politics. which way do you lean politically? conservative. republican. well, using the bing news selector you can find news from whichever way you lean. (together) social on this side, financial. which party is currently predicted to win a majority in the senate? the republicans? would you make a bet on that? no. are you chicken?

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and free dvd and brochure. get the hearing aid that can. lyric from phonak. lyric can. joining me now from nashville, tennessee, congresswoman diane black. she's a republican, sent to washington two years ago, by the good people of tennessee's 6th congressional district, just east of nashville. so congresswoman, welcome. and before we chat, wasn't to play a little sound this is republican haley barbour speaking yesterday here on cnn. >> the hurricane is what broke romney's momentum. >> you think that as well. >> i don't think there is any question about it. any day that the news media is not talking about jobs and the economy, taxes and spending, deficit and debt, obama care and energy is a good day for barack obama. >> broke romney's momentum. the hurricane. congresswoman black, haley

barbour, he's saying, you know, romney had the momentum going, the storm obviously took it way, do you also believe that to be the case? >> first of all, wasni want to we all are sending our hearts out to those devastated by the storm. we still see on television they're dealing with really tough situations. and it is only appropriate that we should turn and make sure our fellow americans are taking care of during the tough times. but, listen, this momentum is definitely on governor romney's side. we see we're up by 7% in the enthusiastic factor. we also see we're up by 7% in those who are undecided. so there is no doubt in my mind that we have got that momentum going, we're within the margin of error, i've been in wisconsin and pennsylvania, i've seen it myself. >> congresswoman black, to some folks what haley barbour is saying sounds a bit like an early post mortem coming from the ranks of the republicans of your own party. do you hear any republicans, you mentioned all the states you've been through traveling here, do you hear any of the republicans giving up the fight?

>> no, actually i think that there is even more enthusiasm right now because we're hearing about those battleground states such as wisconsin and pennsylvania where obviously the president won by double digits and we see now that we're within the margin of error. and it is an enthusiasm up there and momentum that i believe that we're going to be victorious tomorrow evening. >> i want you to listen to president obama speaking just this morning in madison, wisconsin. >> okay. >> our fight goes on because we know america's always done best. we have always prospered when everybody gets a fair shot. and everybody is doing their fair share. everybody is playing by the same rules, that's what we believe, that's why you elected me in 2008 and that is why i'm running for a second term as president of the united states. >> again, that was the president speaking this morning. diane black, 60 seconds, i did this to someone last hour. 60 seconds.

give me two good reasons why not to vote for president obama? >> i think that it is very obvious we have failed policies and broken promises. we have unemployment rates that are still very high. 23 million americans who are looking for and struggling for work. we see a deficit that has just t continued to grow, greater than when the president came into office. the people -- the american people are suffering. they want someone who can show them a bright future and a plan, a true plan to move us ahead and make us a prosperous nation once again. >> congresswoman diane black, thank you. speaking of mitt romney, he's in virginia. he is surrounded by a crowd, there is his wife ann romney, to his left. we'll dip into that here in just a moment. you're watching "cnn newsroom." maybe somewhere around my house. mine's just, right over that way. well you can find out exactly where it is using bing elections. it's a good day for politics. which way do you lean politically? conservative. republican.

well, using the bing news selector you can find news from whichever way you lean. (together) social on this side, financial. which party is currently predicted to win a majority in the senate? the republicans? would you make a bet on that? no. are you chicken? prand you're seeing that rightno quit in amnow.a... over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... rising. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the... last thing we should do is turn back now. here's my plan for the next four years: making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom;

boosting american-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where... we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. and ending the war in afghanistan, so we can... do some nation-building here at home. that's the right path. so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote... so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message. there's a health company that can help you stay that way. what's healthier than that?

closing arguments time. here he is about to speak. mitt romney, his wife ann romney, packed crowd, fairfax, virginia. one of the battleground states. let's listen, shall we? >> you guys, i want to thank you. you know, if anyone wants to

know where the energy is, if anyone out there that is following american politics wants to know where the energy is, just come right here in this room and you'll see it. i want to thank your governor, governor bob mcdonald, the most popular governor in america. and the first lady maureen mcdonald as well and thank you to the senator from the commonwealth of virginia, george allen. thanks also to congressman frank will for introducing us here and welcoming us here. and thank you for that welcome. i am overwhelmed. that's really something special. thank you. and i'm looking around, i'm

looking around to see if we have the beetles here or something. but it looks like you came just for the campaign and i appreciate it. your voices and your energy and your passion are being heard all over the nation. and we -- ann and i, i want to thank you for being here and showing us that kind of welcome and thank you for the work that so many of you have been doing, going across the neighborhood, knocking on doors, making phone calls for us at victory centers, putting up signs in your yard, and in your neighbor's yards. and thanks for convincing co-workers to join our team and to recognize how important this election is for the entire nation. and now let's make sure that we get everybody out to vote on

tuesday. everybody you know, bring them to the polls. you know, what's really inspi inspiring about this gathering today is that you came here because you care about america. and this and this is a campaign about america and about the future that we're going to leave to our children and to their children. we thank you. and we ask you to stay with it all the way until we win tomorrow night. we've got to have your help. [ cheers and applause ] now, perhaps there are a few members of your family or your friends that haven't decided who they're going to vote for yet. and so when you talk to them -- and i'm going to talk to them here as well -- ask them to look beyond the speeches and the attacks and the ads and look at the record, look tat record

because talk is cheap. but a record -- in speech, it's measured in achievements and four years ago, then candidate obama promised to do so very much. but he's done so very little. he promised to be, as you recall, a post-partisan president. but he was most part son and he has attacked and blamed and divided. it's not only republicans he's refused to listen to. it's also independent voices. he said he was going to focus on job creation. instead he focused on obama care that killed jobs. he said he was going to cut the federal deficit -- he was going to cut the deficit in half. instead, he doubled it. he said that by now, unemployment would be at 5.2%. and you saw on friday it's 7.9%. they may sound like small

percentage differences you you know that's 9 million american jobs short of what he promised. those are real people, unemployment is today higher than when barack obama took office. and, you know, he promised that he would propose a plan to save medicare and social security from insolvency. but he didn't. and, in fact, he raided medicare, $716 billion to pay for his obama care plan. [ crowd booing ] he said that he would lower health insurance premiums for the average american family by now by $2,500 a family. and have you seen your health insurance go down by that amount? i keep looking. actually what we've seen is that premiums are up for the average family by $3,000 a year. and you think about that with a median income of $50,000 a year, he's off by $5,500.

this is tough for america's families. and by the way, gasoline, that now costs $2,000 a family more than it did when he was elected. [ crowd booing ] there's a record to look at. he said he'd work across the aisle on the most important issues. did you know that he has not met on the economy or on jobs or on the budget with either the republican leader of the house or the senate since july? think of that. this is november. since july. instead of bridging the divide, he's made the divide wider. and so many of you look at the big debates in this country not as a republican or a democrat, but as an independent thinker, as an american. and you watch what's happened in this country over the last four years with the independent voice, you hope that president obama would live up to his promise to bring people together, to solve big problems. he hasn't. i will.

[ cheers and applause ] let me tell you -- let me tell you why he fell so far short of what he promised. it's because he cared more about the liberal agenda he was pursuing than he did about repairing the economy. did obama care create new jobs? did his war on coal and gas and oil create new jobs? did those dodd/frank regulations make it easier for banks to make loans to people? does raising taxes put people to work? how about his avalanche of new regulations? does that help small businesses? how about his plan to require

companies to have unions whether the employees want to vote for them or not? card check, does that create jobs? you passed the test. [ laughter ] almost every measure he took, almost everything he did hurt the economy. and that means it hurt our fellow americans. 23 million of our fellow americans are struggling to find a good job. one in six of our fellow americans are in poverty. and the middle class, those that aren't poor, those that have a job, they're still struggling. they've been squeezed over the last four years by incomes that have been coming down, now $4,300 a year less in income per year than when he took office. and at the same time, prices are up for health insurance, as i mentioned, and for gasoline and for food and for electricity. these have been tough times to

be middle class in america under this president. this weekend, i spoke with a wife of a man -- he's 60 years old in the prime earning years of his life, 60 years old is just fine, by the way. [ cheers and applause ] i remember being young like that. this guy had worked for 40 years as a welder but he just got laid off. and she asked me on the phone, she said, what can i do to help her husband? and she made it very clear. she wasn't talking about getting a government check. he wants a job. the president think that is more government is the answer. it is not. more good jobs, that's the answer for america. [ cheers and applause ]

i actually think the question of this election comes down to this -- do you want four more years like the last four years? or do you want real change? look, the president promised change but he just couldn't deliver it. i not only promise change, i have a record of achieving it. i actually built a business and turned around another one. i helped turn around the olympics back when they were in trouble. [ cheers and applause ] and by the way, with a democrat legislature, i helped turn my state from deficit to surplus and from job losses to job growth and from higher taxes to higher take-home pay. that's why i'm running for president. i know how to change the course the nation is on. [ cheers and applause ]

i kn i've balanced budgets. you have to do that in business or you'll go bankrupt. i've balanced budgets in my state and in the olympics. i'm going to use that skill to help balance the federal budget. accomplishing real change is not just something i talk about. it's something i have done and i will do as the next president of the united states. [ cheers and applause ] [ crowd chanting ] if you believe we can do better and if you believe america should be on a better course and if you're tired of being tired, then i ask you to vote and work

for real change. paul ryan and i will bring real change from day one because when i'm elected, i understand the american economy and the jobs situation is still going to be struggling, stagnant. i won't waste any time complaining about my predecessor -- >> [ cheers and applause ] >> i won't spend my effort trying to pass partisan legislation that's unrelated to job growth. from day one, i'm going to go to work to help americans get to work. and people across the country are responding to our five-part plan to create jobs. you've heard about it. part one is taking full advantage of our energy resources. on day one, i'm going to act to increase the number of leases and permits on federal lands so we can -- >> for months, we have seen the ads and the attacks and the counterattacks.